Yesterday afternoon, I took the bus up to the University of Kansas (it turned out to be a fairly quick trip, though it required careful timing, as that route runs only once an hour) and visited the Spencer Research Library, where I read a book in their special collection of science fiction: Rocket Man by Lee Correy [G. Harry Stine] (published by ( Read more... )

Some years back, California passed Proposition 209, under which the state constitution prohibited state-sponsored preferential treatment based on race, sex, or ethnicity. This past year, the California Assembly passed ACA-7, which would authorize the governor to make exceptions to that prohibition for the purpose of "increasing the life expectancy ( Read more... )

I've been thinking about new roleplaying campaigns to begin in 2025. Last night I was glancing over one of my past GURPS books, GURPS Adaptations, and I hit on a pssage I had written for it:

Less than a year after their final encounter with Count Dracula, Jonathan and Mina Harker had twin children - a son, Quincy, and a daughter, Lucy. Now in ( Read more... )

Some weeks ago, C and I sent samples in to 23andme to see what they had to say about our ancestry and medical condition. The results came back a few days ago. My ancestry came out as nearly 80% British Isles, with nearly all the rest German and Swiss, Scandinavian, or generic northern and western European. But there were a couple of surprises ( Read more... )

As of last night, I finished going through the line editor's comments on GURPS Infinite Worlds: Gotterdammerung and checked off the last paragraph. So I went ahead and sent it in ( Read more... )

I've been running a modern fantasy campaign about people who share each other's dreams for roughly the past year and a half. I'm coming up on a termination date, and I've been puzzling over what kind of storyline would be a good one to end on ( Read more... )

Well, that was fast: The line editor has returned his full comments on my new book, and asked me how long I'll need to revise it. I'll go through them closely over the weekend and let him know next week. I don't think I've ever gotten a book back that fast before!

Addendum: And the line editor has announced the title on Dreamwidth: GURPS Infinite ( Read more... )

A little while ago this morning, I submitted the first draft of my latest book to Steve Jackson Games, accompanied by a sketch of a map that I hope can appear in it. Now I go into waiting mode while the editorial department fits it into their schedule for review.

I happened lately to be thinking about the early Rolling Stones song "Lady Jane." That let me to look up the lyrics, and as a follow-up to look at various interpretations of them ( Read more... )

On Tuesday night, after our visit to the Prairie Park Nature Center, while I was bathing, I saw a black spot on my inner thigh. I wasn't sure if it was a scab or growth or just dirt, so I tried to see if it would come off. When it did, and I set it down on the bathtub rim, it turned out to have legs. So I called to C, and she confirmed my suspicion ( Read more... )